Dear !*TITLE*! !*LASTNAME*!,
We had a most educating and enjoyable evening event at NOKIA last Thursday, attended by almost 50 participants, read more below!
Our next regular meeting is a luncheon meeting with Mr. Shinichi Koizumi, Senior Advisor (Former Executive Vice President) of Toray Industries, Inc. as our guest speaker. Many might not be familiar with Toray but it is a large (45,000 employees, 20 bill. USD revenue) and one of the most successful Japanese companies today, specializing in advanced materials centered on technologies of organic synthetic chemistry, polymer chemistry and biochemistry. For example, whenever you fly one of the modern airliners, significant parts of the aircraft is manufactured with their carbon fibres.
Read more about the luncheon below!
In this bulletin we also have updates on the Mercedes-Benz Japan Cup on Friday, 10 October and the Scandinavian Christmas Ball on Friday, 12 December.
Also in this issue we have a contribution from Timo Varhama in his column "Aoyama View". This time titled: Scotland Challenges Britain - Finland Tries to Live with Russia .
Click banner for an interesting read and find out what the Âland Islands and Hong Kong have in common!

Thursday, 18 September - FCCJ @ NOKIA
JP Takala: The New NOKIA
On Thursday, 18 September we had a very educating and enjoyable evening event at NOKIA in their offices in Roppongi Hills Mori Tower.
Mr. JP Takala, Vice President, Japan Region
NOKIA, Nokia Networks (also FCCJ Board Member), gave a presentation on "The New NOKIA", where Networks forms a very dominant part of their current business. Thus their slogan today is "From connecting people to connecting the World". He also gave an overview of the challenges in the mobile network industry when the bandwidth demand from users is expected to 60-fold to 1 GB/user/day by 2020.
Before JP:s presentation, Mr. Kimio Hashida, Senior Management Advisor, who has been involved in Nokia business since the 1980's, gave a brief background to the "old NOKIA" in Japan, where the first subsidiary was established in 1987 mainly for sourcing components.
After JP's presentation, the 49 participants, 32 FCCJ members and 17 from NOKIA, enjoyed delicious food and drinks and a lot of networking.
For more about the event, click link at right!

Shinichi Koizumi was born in Tokyo in 1948 and received Bachelor Degree in Economics from Keio University in 1971, after which he joined Toray Industries, Inc. where he held different positions, mainly in the international Division. From 1997 to 1999 he served as Director and Toray Plastics (Malaysia) Snd. Bnd.
He was appointed Vice President in 2004, Senior Vice President (International Operations) in 2006 and Executive Vice President & Representative Member of the Board in 2008. In 2013 he was appointed Senior Advisor and Chairman or the Board, Toray Corporate Business Research, Inc.

About Toray

Toray Group is a multinational corporate group which specializes in advanced materials centered on technologies of organic synthetic chemistry, polymer chemistry and biochemistry. Its foundation business areas are Fibers and Textiles, as well as Plastics and Chemicals. The company has also diversified into areas such as IT-related Products, Carbon Fiber and Composite Materials, Environment and Engineering, Life Science and other Businesses.
Toray is the world's largest producer of carbon fibers, which are extensively used in primary structure parts such main and tail wings and fuselage of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and the coming Airbus A350 XWB.

We collect the luncheon fee at the hotel. Note that we have to invoice the lunch fee for cancellations after 13:00 on Tuesday, 14 October and "no-shows".
To register, click link at right.

Friday, 10 October - The North-America - Europe Golf Challenge in Japan Mercedes-Benz Japan Cup 2014
The 12th North America - Europe Golf Challenge in Japan, the Mercedes-Benz Japan Cup 2014, will be played on Friday, 10 October, at the same venue as in previous years, the Atsugi Kokusai Country Club in Kanagawa Prefecture.
We still aceept a few registrations for the European team, but if you plan to play and have not signed up yet, please do so a.s.a.p.!
To sign-up as player and/or sponsor, please click link at right.

Friday, 12 December - The Social Highlight of the Year for the Nordic Chambers
The social highlight of the year of the Nordic Chambers in Japan, the Scandinavian Christmas Ball, is this year held on Friday, 12 December at our regular venue, The Westin Tokyo Hotel.
This is the 22nd event and the party committee is working on an exciting program with great food and drinks. Don't miss out on this opportunity to join one of the best parties in town for a very reasonable cost, taking into account what it includes!
Registration Open!
The registration for the party has now been opened. Please sign up soon to secure your seats!
Sign-ups are on a first-come, first serve basis, although sponsors are guaranteed seats (Gold and Silver sponsors can reserve full tables).
Sponsor Recruiting
Currently we are also recruiting sponsors and advertisers for the party. To get maximum benefit and exposure for your contribution, sign up soon. Without the continuous support from a large number of companies and organizations, we could not have made this event as enjoyable as it has been throughout the years, for a reasonable cost of participation.
To sign-up as participant or sponsor, click link at right.

Japanese Fiscal Year 2014 Subsidy Program
JETRO has informed us that a call for applications for the Japanese Fiscal Year 2014 Subsidy Program for Projects Promoting Foreign Direct Investment, Site Location and Regional Development in Japan has been extended. We apologise for the short notice.
Application Period:
From September 10 to October 10, 2014
For full details please refer to the sites linked at right:

News from FinlandPension negotiators agree to increase retirement age
Weeks of negotiation over reforms to the pensions system have ended with agreement over plans to raise the retirement age to 65. The trade union confederation of skilled workers, Akava, dropped out of the talks, Yle understands.
Representatives of government, unions and pension funds have agreed on reforms to Finland's state pension system which would increase the retirement age to 65, Yle understands.
Negotiations have been continuing for many weeks, with parties arguing over changes to the retirement age, contribution levels or pension amounts. The changes form part of the government's wide-ranging programme of structural reforms, which also include root-and-branch restructuring of the country's national health system.
Under the proposed pension reform, workers born in or after 1955 would retire two years later than the current age of 63.
The pensionable age would then increase by three months every year, starting 2017.

Grin of the WeekWhat was the problem before?
Taxiing down the tarmac, the jetliner abruptly stopped, turned around and returned to the gate. After an hour-long wait, it finally took off. A concerned passenger asked the flight attendant, "What was the problem?"
"The pilot was bothered by a noise he heard from one of the engines," explained the Flight Attendant, "and it took us a while to find a new pilot."

If you have any comments, rumors, gossip or inside information, send it to: fccj@gol.com

ABOUT THIS BULLETIN
This bulletin is
published by the Finnish Chamber of Commerce in Japan (FCCJ) and
distributed to over 650 recipients among its members and related
organizations. FCCJ was established in April 1999 to promote trade and
economic exchange between Japan and Finland and has today 64 corporate
members, 12 individual and one special member.